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NZ Warriors in-stadium commentaryLawson in strong position for points in Monaco Grand Prix
Ian Chadband, AAP • May 25th, 2025 8:04 am
Photo: Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
It could easily have been Monte Carlo and bust for Oscar Piastri as he had a career-high number of brushes with the barriers on F1's most famous street circuit before being relieved to finish third in qualifying for the sport's showpiece Monaco Grand Prix.
Instead, while the championship leader diced with danger, it was McLaren teammate Lando Norris who came out top in a thrilling qualifying contest on Saturday, setting a lap record to edge out hometown hero, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, for pole.
In a terrific final Q3 shootout, Piastri had seconds earlier also broken the record in 1 minute 10.129 seconds, only for Leclerc, who had topped all three practice sessions, to then clock 1:10.063 and Norris a dazzling 1:09.954.
Liam Lawson continued his promising weekend in Monaco as the Kiwi driver and his Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar both finished in Q3, lining up ninth and sixth on the grid respectively.
Qualifying well is a priority on a circuit that's so difficult to overtake on, but with a mandatory two-pit-stop rule in operation to liven up the sport's most celebrated race, Piastri thinks anything's possible.
Norris, after a 12th pole position and second this season, ended a spell where he's been a bit down on confidence, saying: "It's been a long time coming, I don't think you realise how good this feels with quite a few struggles over the last couple of months, especially here in Monaco, the hardest track probably to do it."
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton will start Sunday's race from seventh place after being handed a three-place grid drop for impeding Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who'll start fourth.
Hamilton had an eventful afternoon, also clipping the wall by the casino late in Q3 but his old Mercedes' teammate George Russell had a worse afternoon, coming to a stop in the tunnel with an apparent electrical problem to red flag Q2, placing him only 14th.
